LANDLORDS renting out dozens of homes on short-stay platforms have been blamed for Melbourne’s “party house” woes by a residents’ group who wants body corporates to be able to ban them.

Samantha Landy

Sunday Herald SunSeptember 15, 20184:51pm

This apartment block at 200 Spencer St, Melbourne was the site of an unruly short-stay party this month.Source:News Corp Australia

COWBOY landlords renting out dozens of homes on short-stay platforms have been blamed for Melbourne’s “party house” woes.

Melbourne residents’ group We Live Here wants owners’ corporations to have the power to “ban commercial operations who have, say, 20 Airbnb apartments in one building,” founder Marshall Delves says.

But Airbnb believes “tough but fair” new laws introduced by the Victorian Government last month are an “important first step” in curbing out-of-control parties in short-term rentals that had recently plagued Melbourne.

The legislation will make apartment owners liable for “damage, noise or loss of amenity” caused by short-stay guests, and fine guests up to $1100 for these types of breaches from February 1.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal will have new powers to compensate neighbours up to $2000 and ban short-stay apartments repeatedly used for unruly parties.

Kelly’s Airbnb house in Footscray was trashed by a wild party. Picture: David CroslingSource:News Corp Australia

Whittles body corporate Victorian manager and former Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Neville Sanders labelled the laws “step in the right direction”.

But he said some high-rise residents would rather body corporations had the power to outright ban short-stay apartments in their buildings.

“The bad incidents are very few. But when they do happen, they’re causing a lot of stress and fear,” he said.

Since December, wild parties have trashed rentals in Altona, Werribee, North Melbourne, Footscray, Carnegie, Hawthorn East and the CBD. Police officers and neighbours have been assaulted and threatened, and 19-year-old Laa Chol murdered at a CBD short-stay apartment. hired for a party in July.

Airbnb’s Brent Thomas said Victoria’s new anti-party house laws would “throw the book” at repeatedly bad offenders. Picture: James HoranSource:Supplied

Mr Delves said his group We Live Here, which represented residents of more than 300 Melbourne buildings, didn’t “have issues with mums and dads” listing on Airbnb and other platforms.

It blamed “commercial operators” with multiple short-stay apartments, and wanted owners’ corporations to have the authority to reject them.

Figures by independent “activist project” Inside Airbnb suggest more than a third of Melbourne hosts are offering multiple Airbnbs, making them “unlikely to be living in the property”, and 61 per cent of more than 20,000 listings are whole homes or apartments.

Mr Delves said the new Victorian laws did “absolutely nothing for owners or residents”, and merely took responsibility away from platforms like Airbnb.

Airbnb’s Australia and New Zealand head of policy Brent Thomas said the company had been “the lone champion of new anti-party house laws in Victoria”, compared to other short-stay platforms.

They would ensure “bad actors who repeatedly do the wrong thing will … have the book thrown at them” and compliment other Airbnb safety measures, including host background checks, listings risk assessment, scam detectors, a review system and a “million-dollar host guarantee” to protect listings.

The largest short-stay claim made by a Victorian landlord to landlord insurer Terri Scheer last financial year totalled about $3500.